1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receptacle capable of detecting the connection of a plug and to a mounting structure of the receptacle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many receptacles have been prepared for connecting plugs of various external electronic devices such as analog video, digital video, various games, personal computers, and audio devices to newly produced TV sets. In this case, it is desirable that the TV set itself recognize the type of the external electronic device connected to the TV set. To meet this need, a connector has been suggested which can detect that the both plug and receptacle are electrically connected by inserting the plug into the receptacle.
As this suggestion, an invention is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-40279) that relates to a connector (c) comprising a receptacle (a) and a plug (b), as shown in FIG. 15, in which the receptacle (a) is provided with pairs of mutually opposite first and second switch pieces (d), (e) and third and fourth switch pieces (f), (g), the plug (b) is provided with protrusions (h), (i) for mutually contacting the switch pieces (e) and (d), and (g) and (f) when the receptacle (a) and the plug (b) are connected, the first switch piece (d) is connected to a connection monitoring circuit (j), the second switch piece (e) is connected to the third switch piece (g) by a line (k), and the fourth switch piece (f) is grounded.
In this invention, signals for judging connection and disconnection of the receptacle (a) and plug (b) can be detected by Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) as a High level when the plug (b) is disconnected and as a Low level when the plug is connected, and the connection-disconnection of the receptacle (a) and plug (b) can be judged by the signal level received by the connection monitoring circuit (j).
However, in the invention, the first to fourth switch pieces (d), (e), (f), (g) have to be provided at the receptacle (a), and the protrusions (h), (i) have to be provided at the plug (b) in order to detect connection-disconnection of the receptacle (a) and plug (b). Therefore, the presently available receptacles (a) and plugs (b) cannot be employed, unless they are significantly modified. In other words, the cost increase is substantial. Further, because the switch pieces (d), (e), (f), (g) are provided on both sides of the receptacle (a), and the protrusions (h), (i) are provided on both sides of the plug (b), the receptacle (a) and plug (b) are increased in width. Furthermore, because the four switch pieces (d), (e), (f), (g) have to be wired in series, the patterning thereof inevitably becomes complex.
Accordingly, the invention is inapplicable to receptacles and plugs whose shape is strictly determined by a standard, for example, receptacles and plugs conforming to the HDMI® (High Definition Multimedia Interface) standard.